On this Good Friday, I will investigate a stunning prophecy written centuries before Christ: the promise of an anointed servant who will accomplish God’s plan of redemption. This prophecy is staggering as it accurately predicts that this servant will bring people from around the world to worship the God of Israel. Yet perhaps more surprisingly, it says this servant will change the world through his sacrificial death.
This prophecy occurs in the book of Isaiah, in what is often called the Servant Songs. These songs speak of a mysterious servant who will fulfill the plan of Yahweh, the God of Israel. I will survey a few sections of these servant songs, in order to uncover the mystery of this servant. We will ask several questions of this ancient text. Who is this servant? How far will his influence extend? How will he accomplish Yahweh’s purpose? And what does all this mean for us, over two thousand years later?
The Servant’s Anointing and Influence: Isaiah 42:1-9
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations…4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged[a]
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law…6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
How does this passage describe the servant of Yahweh? How far will the servant’s influence extend?
- God chose him and delights in him
- The Spirit of God is in him
- He will bring justice to the nations, and the coastlands will wait for his law
- He will be a light for the nations
- He will open eyes and free prisoners
At the outset, we see that this servant is anointed by God, and the servant’s influence will extend throughout the earth, beyond just the people of Israel. But this passage leaves many things shrouded in mystery. We are left asking, who is this servant? And how exactly will he influence the entire world?
The Servant’s Identity: Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”5 And now the LORD says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”7 Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
This passage contains similar themes as the first one. It also sheds more light on the identity of this servant and the manner of his global impact.
- This message is for the coastlands and peoples from afar
- The servant is identified as Israel
- God will be glorified in Israel his servant
- Israel replies, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.”
- The servant will bring Israel back to God
- The servant will be a light to the nations and bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth
- Kings shall see and princes shall prostrate themselves
In this passage, the mystery of the servant’s identity is solved…for now. We also get more details about how he will influence the nations. He will cause Israel to return to God, but that isn’t enough, for God also wants his salvation to reach the ends of the earth. He gives a stunning promise: the servant will bring the nations to worship the God of Israel. Even kings and princes will bow before him! What a bold prophecy! But how will the servant, Israel, accomplish this prophecy? Military conquest? Cultural influence? Not only that, God’s plan appears to have a critical flaw: Israel’s disobedience.
The Servant’s Rebellion: Isaiah 42:18-20
18 Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of the LORD?
20 He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
Here, God calls out the disobedience of his servant Israel. The servant has broken God’s covenant. He is spiritually blind and deaf. He sees but does not observe, he has ears but does not hear. This echoes the refrain from Isaiah 6:9, when God first commissioned the prophet Isaiah. “And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ This leads to a critical problem: How can God keep his promise to bless the nations through his servant, after his servant has been so unfaithful?
Israel’s Rebellion and Another Obedient Servant: Isaiah 50:1-6
1 Thus says the LORD:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The LORD God has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 The LORD God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
Once again God reminds Israel of their disobedience, as they were sold into captivity for their inequities. Then God asks the rhetorical question: Has his hand shortened? Has he lost the power to save? The implied answer is no…but how? Again, the answer lies with the servant. In this passage, the servant has:
- The tongue of those who are taught
- Hears as those who are taught
- An open ear that is not rebellious
This is the polar opposite of Yahweh’s earlier description of Israel. Whereas Israel is deaf and disobedient, this servant listens and obeys. So does Israel have a change of heart? Or is something else happening? To answer that, let us examine the final servant song.
The Servant’s Suffering and Salvation: Isaiah 52:10-53:22
10 The LORD has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
This is the climax of the servant songs. Yahweh is finally revealing how his servant will bring salvation to the nations: through his sacrificial suffering and death. He will sprinkle the nations with his atoning blood; kings will be silenced before him. Israel has heard all along and not understood, but the world will understand what they were not previously told. The next chapter, Isaiah 53, begins by saying, “And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” The repetition of the phrase “arm of the LORD” emphasizes that this is the climactic, decisive showcase of God’s power to save. The stunning part is that God reveals his saving power not through political conquest, but through a suffering savior. Through the suffering of the servant (described in the rest of Isaiah 53), God will bring all nations will worship him.
What an amazing prophecy! Approximately seven hundred years before Christ, the book of Isaiah promised a servant who would suffer and die, and that his suffering and death would cause people from around the world to worship the Yahweh the God of Israel. This prophecy unfolded as the church spread the Gospel further and further throughout the centuries. Today, countless people from the entire globe – America, Europe, Asia, and Africa –all worship the God of Israel, the God revealed in Scripture. Jesus has truly changed billions of lives. The arm of the LORD has brought salvation to the ends of the earth. This happened exactly as the servant songs foretold.
Why does this matter today? What is the significance of a prophecy written over two thousand years ago? For one, consider the surprising nature and stunning accuracy of these prophecies. They promise a servant who will change the world in the most counter-intuitive way possible: through his sacrificial death. This death will cause people from all nations to worship Yahweh and experience his salvation. Time has proven the truth of this prophecy, as Jesus Christ is truly the most influential figure in history. Such a promise, such a story, could only have a divine author.
God truly is the greatest storyteller, and his stories are true! Jesus died to save us from our rebellion. He died to give us freedom from our sin and suffering. He died to grant us the privilege of worshipping and enjoying God forever. Good Friday certainly brings mixed emotions as we remember the horrific torment Jesus endured. Nevertheless, it truly is a good day because of what God accomplished through his servant.
